By Cyriel Freijser
The sale of two Internet companies made him a rand billionaire 10 times over, but the career highlight of South African Elon Musk, 34, will happen on Friday night with the launch of his brainchild Falcon rocket.
The countdown for the launch of the 21m Falcon 1, from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, is expected to begin at 11pm South African time.
The most remarkable aspect of the launch is the low costs involved: at $6,7-million (R44 million) the Falcon 1 is significantly less expensive than comparable rockets from competing space corporations.
| Critics have portrayed Elon Musk as a space maverick |
This is all the more significant because Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) - based in El Segundo, Texas - was only set up three years ago and works with a small staff of 150 employees.
The latter fact, says Musk, is one explanation for the company's low production costs. Moreover, SpaceX claims it saves money by not spending it on superfluous research, and through its policy of "recycling" materials and parts of the Falcon.
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Some critics have portrayed Elon Musk as a space maverick whose SpaceX is unlikely to survive long. But, in the long run, Musk is determined to "democratise" space travel and make space journeys more affordable.
Musk believes space is potentially far more revolutionary than his earlier focus, the Internet. The United States Defence Department clearly falls within the camp of Musk fans.
It eagerly paid the relatively small amount of money to be his first customer. Over the next three years SpaceX has planned seven other satellite launches, and, for all of them, customers have shown commitment (and cash).
Notably, the US Air Force signed a $100-million contract with Musk lasting until 2010. If Musk's space dreams turn out to be as successful as his previous two companies, SpaceX customers are likely to have put their money on the right horse.
In 1999 Musk and his co-founders sold Zip2, a web software business, for more than $300-million to Compaq.
Out of Zip2, Musk founded the online payment service company Paypal. Three years ago he sold out to eBay, pocketing $1,5-billion in stocks.
Musk went to school at Pretoria Boys' High School and subsequently moved to the US where he studied economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Mercury on November 24, 2005
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